<B>Recycled Board Production Down for Month, YTD</B>

The recycled paperboard industry saw unbridled growth over the past several years as mills added recycled-content capabilities. The increase helped fuel the surge in OCC collection. However, recent figures find that the recycled paperboard industry is seeing some growing pains.

The most recent figures from the American Forest and Paper Association finds a total of 1.262 million tons of recycled paperboard produced in July, bringing the seven-month total to 9.262 million tons. The figures for the month and first seven months are both down from 1999's likewise figures. Last July's figure stands at 1.388 million tons, while 1999's seven-month total stood at 9.367 million tons, a 1.1 percent drop.

The drop helped push the total paperboard figure to 29.391 million tons, a 0.6 percent decrease from last year's seven-month total.

The recycled board industry saw declines in both linerboard and corrugated medium year to date. Recycled linerboard realized a 3.6 percent drop between the two years, with this July's figure standing at 299,000 tons.

The percentage decline in recycled linerboard was far greater than the total linerboard production figure, which dipped by 1.3 percent over the first seven months of the year. Recycled medium posted an even sharper decline between the two years, down 4.2 percent. While recycled medium production plummeted, total medium production held stable between the two years, with semichemical medium production the largest component of the medium industry, posting a 2.9 percent increase between the two years.

Recycled boxboard production was the only grade holding some optimism. For the first seven months production held essentially unchanged. However, total boxboard production increased a robust 2.6 percent for the first seven months, powered by improvements in unbleached kraft, up 4.9 percent, and solid bleached production.